"Oh great creator of being grant me one more hour to perform my art and perfect my life."

"Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing." ~Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

"Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for." ~Clarence Darrow

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." ~Albert Einstein

"Painting endures, and keeps all the appearance of being alive though in-fact it is confined to one surface, it can preserve the transient beauty of mortals and endured with the permanence greater than the works of nature, for these are the slaves of time even when death has destroy nature's original, painting preserves the image of divine beauty". ~Leonardo da Vinci

"All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves." ~Bill Hicks

"Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe." ~Lao Tzu

"I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people." ~John Lennon

"The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven." ~John Milton

"Stewie Griffin"
"Look, it's not like we've got a lot to live for. I'm just going to end up like Chris, only I'll be smart enough to realize how miserable I am." ~Stewie Griffin

"Vladimir Putin"
This piece is dedicated to pussy riot and the gay people in Russia. What people do in their private lifes is their business not mine, I refuse to judge anyone on any basis, specially people because of their sexual orientation.

"Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule."
~Buddha

"Hollywood"
"Signs and Symbols Rule the world, not rules and law" ~Confucius

"Charlie Brown"
"I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time." ~Charlie Brown

"The etcher"
"On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world." ~Henry David Thoreau

"Turn in your Grave da Vinci (Beetlejuice) East Austin Studio Tour 2011"
"When I paint I feel 110% happy and overwhelmed with other emotions I can't explain. Every painter is like an antenna, in the sense that whenever we decide to create we tune into the 'signal'. The entire process of painting a picture is in my opinion, one of the highest degrees of spiritual things you can do. I have accepted that there is one than more reality and that there are things and forces I can't explain...my heart is in charge now." ~Juan Carlos Amorrortu

"In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it." ~Ernst Fischer

"The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, 'Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?' And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, 'Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.' And we... kill those people. 'Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.' It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok... But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace." ~Bill Hicks

Liberate Etching with aquatint on copper plate
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Mark Twain

Are We There Yet
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." ~Helen Keller

Cease Fire
"My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth."
~George Washington

"Inflation"
"The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves." ~George Washington

Geisha
"Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die", and find that there is no death." ~ Eckhart Tolle

"A good painter has to bring out two things: The physical appearance of the subject he is painting, but also what is in the mind, the intentions of the soul; achieving the first is easy, the second very hard." ~Leonardo Da Vinci

"Theory has no place.., in an artist's basic education. It is the eye and the hand that should be exercised during the impressionable years of youth .... It is always possible to later acquire the accessory knowledge involved in the production of a work of art, but never - and I want to stress that point -- never can the will, perseverance, and tenacity of a mature man make up for insufficient practice. And can there be such anguish compared to that felt by the artist who sees the realization of his dream compromised by weak execution?" ~W. Bouguereau

"Starting a new picture is very pleasant, for you always believe that this time you're going to create a masterpiece; you take pains, and little by little the painting takes shape, the effect comes through. You feel marvelous sensations. When it's done, however, things are different. You want to touch up the arm, the movement of the body doesn't seem graceful.., and you end up doing nothing, for fear of having to redo the whole thing completely." ~William Bouguereau

"One is born an artist. The artist is a man endowed with a special nature, with a particular feeling for seeing form and color spontaneously, as a whole, in perfect harmony. If one lacks that feeling, one is not an artist and will never become an artist; and it is a waste of time to entertain the possibility. This craft is acquired through study, observation, and practice; it can improve by ceaseless work. But the instinct for art is innate. First, one has to love nature with all one's heart and soul, and be able to study and admire it for hours on end. Everything is in nature. A plant, a leaf, a blade of grass should be the subjects of infinite and fruitful meditations; for the artist, a cloud floating in the sky has form, and the form affords him joy, helps him think." ~W. Bouguereau